Kings Are Too Aggressive for Maple Leafs, 4-1

As long as the Kings play blue-collar hockey, they are tough to beat. Just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs, who lost to the Kings for the second time this season, 4-1, Thursday night at the Forum.

Before an announced crowd of 12,162, goalie Byron Dafoe continued his strong play of late with 27 saves and the Kings got goals from Eddie Olczyk, Kevin Stevens, Ray Ferraro and Craig Johnson. The Kings are 8-7-3 and have lost only once in their last eight games.

“We do not have the type of players that can just go through the motions,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “We have to be a team that is aggressive and moves the puck around.”

The telling, decisive play for the Kings came in the third period when Toronto right wing Tie Domi’s slap shot hit the left post. Seconds later, at 7:23, the Kings put the game out of reach when Johnson scored his third goal of the season to make it 4-1.

The Kings’ penalty-killing unit had another strong game as they were able to kill two Maple Leaf power plays to improve to 70 of 77 for the season. Toronto (8-10-0) is now 2-6 on the road.

In winning for the second time this season against the Maple Leafs, Dafoe improved to 4-1 and has won three games in a row.

“Dafoe played very well . . . he was not flopping around all over the place,” Robinson said. “He was standing up being solid tonight. He was playing all shots.”

Olczyk, once again, got the Kings off to a good start when he beat Toronto goalie Don Beaupre with a shot from the top of the left circle at 4:42 of the first period. Olczyk, who scored his 700th career point with the goal, received a cross-ice pass from Stevens and then beat Beaupre to his glove side with a shot high into the right corner of the net to put the Kings ahead, 1-0.

Following a brief scoreboard power failure, the faltering Maple Leafs tied the game, thanks to a check by Domi on King defenseman Doug Zmolek. Domi’s check made room behind the Kings’ net for center Mats Sundin, who assisted on left wing Nick Kypreos’ second goal of the season, 9:33 into the first period.

The Kings, however, mounted a charge just 25 seconds after Kypreos’ goal. Stevens chased down a loose puck and outskated and outmuscled Toronto’s Dimitri Yushkevich along the left wing, beating Beaupre with a shot from the side of the net for an unassisted goal to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. Stevens’ third goal of the season came at the 9:58 mark of the period and was the last shot Beaupre faced on the night as he was pulled in favor of regular goalie Felix Potvin.

The Kings, who beat Potvin, 5-2, on Oct. 29 at Toronto, treated him the way they did Beaupre as they kept pressure on the Maple Leafs throughout the second period. After only outshooting Toronto, 9-8, in the first period, the Kings dominated the second with 20 shots to the Maple Leafs’ 11.

The Kings took a 3-1 lead early in the second period on a power play after a two-minute high-sticking penalty against Darby Hendrickson for whacking the Kings’ Ian Laperriere. Ferraro scored when he deflected a blue-line shot by John Slaney from in front of the left side of the net for his seventh goal of the season at the 3:56 mark.

Midway through the period, the Kings had a major scare when Toronto’s Larry Murphy slapped the puck up into the face of Slaney, who dropped to the ice with blood dripping from above his left eye. Slaney was able to skate off the ice with the help of teammates Mattias Norstrom and Craig Johnson and returned in the third period with a helmet visor after getting seven stitches.